Sky
by Taylor Erin
Summary: Two angsty/romantic oneshots inspired by the Joshua Radin feat. Ingrid Michaelson song "Sky." Evan L./Laura C.
1. Prologue

This song came on my iPod while I was in the shower and I got the itch to use the lyrics for a story. Well, two stories actually. Anyway, in case you've never heard the song before, it's called "Sky," and it's sung by Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson.

I'm including the lyrics below as a sort of prequel to explain the inspiration behind each story.

Hope you enjoy!

(P.S. It's late and I wrote this all in one sitting, so if there are any typos, I apologize.)

_I woke dreaming we had broke  
Dreaming you left me for someone new  
And you cried, drying those brown eyes  
Crying you're sorry - sorry won't do_

But this is the way I need to wake  
I wake to you  
And you never left me  
All that I dreamt had been untrue  
Open my eyes  
I see sky

Oh, oh, oh, oh, you know the way to keep me on my toes  
I, I, I will be fine - just say you'll stay forever mine  
'Til we fall asleep tonight

Last night, we had a great fight  
I fell asleep in a horrible state  
Then dreamt that you loved my best friend  
My heart would not mend - seemed it was fate

But this is the way I need to wake  
I wake to you  
And you never left me  
All that I dreamt had been untrue  
Open my eyes  
I see sky

Oh, oh, oh, oh, you know the way to keep me on my toes  
I, I, I will be fine - just say you'll stay forever mine  
'Til we fall asleep tonight

Sometimes I forget to love you like I should  
But I'd never leave you - no, I never would  
I never would

Oh, oh, oh, oh, you know the way to keep me on my toes  
I, I, I will be fine - just say you'll stay forever mine  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, you know the way to keep me on my toes  
I, I, I will be fine - just say you'll stay forever mine  
'Til we fall asleep tonight  
'Til we fall asleep tonight


	2. Evan

Evan Lorne wasn't sure he'd ever felt pain like what he was feeling at this exact moment.

He stood on a secluded balcony in Atlantis, looking out over the darkened water surrounding them. The moonlight sparkled off the surface, and he had to check himself before he instinctively called Laura on her comm link to tell her she should come join him. He wouldn't be calling Laura anymore for anything, he thought bitterly.

Just half an hour earlier he had discovered the woman he loved in the arms of another man. He wasn't sure if it made it better or worse that it wasn't even a man he knew. The city wasn't that big, so the chances of not at least knowing _of_ everyone there were slim. But it seemed this man had slipped under his radar in every way.

As soon as she'd seen him standing there, watching them, she had jumped back from her new lover guiltily.

"Evan," she began, starting toward him with a placating hand reached out toward him.

But she didn't get any farther. He held up a hand to silence her, and then turned around and walked away. Now he found himself alone in every way possible, struggling to figure out how to compartmentalize the pain so he could put it aside and do the job he was there to do.

He should have known better. It was, of course, inevitable that the people living in Atlantis, secluded from Earth, would start to pair off. But, as second military officer in command, he should have resisted. He didn't have the time or the luxury of falling in love in such an unstable and unpredictable environment.

He hadn't been able to help himself, Evan thought, shaking his head in disgust. Then he thought of Laura. Her sarcastic witticism that either made him laugh or roll his eyes, her clear green eyes, her soft skin.

Almost as if his thoughts had conjured her up, he heard her tremulous voice behind him.

"Evan?"

He turned around and met her tearful eyes with a hard, unforgiving gaze. Then sighed. Even after she'd broken his heart, he couldn't stand the sight of her crying.

"What do you want, Laura?" he asked wearily.

She took a step toward him, but he backed away.

"Evan, please. I'm so sorry," she cried. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"What exactly is _this_?" he demanded, and then the questions just kept spilling out of him even though he wasn't sure he wanted the pain he knew would come with the answers.

"How long has this been going on? Who is that guy? Are you in love with him? Why didn't you just break it off with me instead of going behind my back, Laura?"

She stood there, tears streaming down her cheeks, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry isn't good enough, Laura."

Without saying another word, she turned and left, leaving him with no answers, no resolution, and no one to turn to for comfort.

* * *

He woke with a start and shot up in bed. He could still feel the heavy ache in his chest and he reached up to wipe away the single tear that had escaped while he slept.

He felt the bed shift beside him and turned to see Laura rolling toward him in her sleep. Her hand slipped toward where he had been laying, a frown marring her previously restful face when she couldn't find him. Instinctively, he reached back and enclosed her searching hand with his. The frown disappeared and she sighed before falling quiet again.

It had all been a dream.

There wasn't another man. Laura hadn't left him, she wasn't cheating on him. She loved him. He rubbed a hand over his heart and was surprised to feel his eyes mist over with happy relief. He'd had countless nightmares about being attacked and/or killed by wraith, exploding buildings, and plagues, but somehow none of them compared to agony of thinking he had lost Laura.

Sliding down into the bed again, Evan rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow as he watched her sleep.

There were still faint traces of dark circles under her eyes from a few weeks prior when she'd been extremely ill with the Pegasus version of the stomach flu. Her hair, which had been braided when they'd gone to bed, was now half down and falling in her face. He brushed it back behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her temple, which led to a kiss on her cheek, then another on her jaw, and finally one on her neck. He kept his face buried there, inhaling the wonderful and unique scent that was Laura.

Finally he drew back and cupped a hand over her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.

"Laura," he whispered. "Baby."

Never a terribly heavy sleeper, she stirred almost immediately and murmured.

"Hmm?"

"I love you," he said earnestly.

Eyes still closed, she smiled and moved closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arm across his chest.

"Mmm, love you too, baby," she replied, kissing his chest before slipping back into sleep.

Hugging her tightly to him, he dropped one last kiss to the top of her head and surrendered to sleep, this time dreaming of watching the moon sparkle over the ocean while he held Laura in his arms.


	3. Laura

"I cannot believe him!"

Laura Cadman stormed into her quarters, picking up the nearest thing – which happened to be a glass figurine from Evan – and hurling it across the room. It made a sizeable dent in the wall before falling to shatter on the floor below. Immediately she rushed over to the mess, tears welling up as her hands hovered over the destruction of a once beloved object.

She reached down to pick up the largest piece that had remained in tact, only to drop it again when the sharp edge made a slicing cut down her finger. It broke into smaller pieces, causing the tears that had been hovering to spill over.

"Oh, damn it!" she cried.

Stalking over to the closet, she pulled out a small dust brush and pan set. When she poured the remnants of Evan's gift into the trash, a new rush of tears came to the surface. She dropped the dust pan to the floor and stumbled over to collapse onto her bed. Grabbing her pillow, she curled herself around it and thought back the confrontation that had led to her current state.

* * *

Evan and his team had returned from their mission with large group of settlers whose world had just been culled. There was one young woman who had seemed particularly attached to Evan, refusing to go to the infirmary unless he accompanied her. He obliged, casting Laura a half-hearted smile as he left the gate room – where, she might add, she'd been waiting for him for twenty minutes prior to his return – without saying so much as a hello.

Eventually she'd tracked him down, still in the infirmary, to find him still with the girl, smiling and laughing at something she'd said. Jennifer was with them, and in a side part of her concentration, it struck Laura as interesting that the two women looked a lot alike.

She'd made her way over, saying hello to Jen and Evan. It had fallen on Jennifer to introduce Laura to their visitor, as Evan didn't step forward and do it himself. Frustrated, Laura had requested to speak to him in private. Unaware of her growing irritation, he had told her he was busy with the settlers and that he'd catch up with her later.

Later had been hours later, when he'd found her sitting outside on a balcony they came to sometimes. When she'd expressed her frustration with his earlier treatment of her, he had immediately become defensive and had eventually reduced the argument to her being jealous and clingy. With a shriek of outrage, she had left him standing on the balcony as she stalked back to her quarters.

Laura's eyes were drooping as her tears tapered off. She barely managed to drag herself into the bathroom to change into her pajamas before she collapsed back into the bed and willingly let go of her unhappy reality for the next few hours.

* * *

Averting her gaze from anyone who passed, Laura headed determinedly toward the infirmary. She needed some girl time with Jennifer. Time to complain about the sheer audacity of Evan's accusations from the previous day and have someone tell her she was completely justified in her anger. As she approached the door to Jennifer's office, she heard giggling coming from inside. Laura slowed, and a smile formed on her face as she realized that her friend was most likely entertaining a gentleman caller. Quietly now, she snuck over to the door to see if she could peek in and see who that gentleman might be.

She was unprepared for the shock that went straight down to her toes when she saw that it was Evan in the room with Jen. Evan who had his arms wrapped around her. Evan who held her face in his hands as he kissed her passionately.

He pulled back and looked lovingly into Jennifer's eyes.

"I love you, Jennifer Keller," he whispered, though to Laura it seemed loud enough for the world to hear. She staggered back, her tears from the previous evening coming back in full force as she turned and ran out of the infirmary. She ran the whole way to the balcony she'd taken refuge on the night before. There, she sank to her knees and doubled over, sobbing into her knees. She didn't know how long she huddled there, but suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder as someone shook her gently.

"Laura?"

* * *

"Laura? Come on, baby, wake up."

Laura opened watery eyes to see Evan's worried eyes hovering over her. He brought his hands up to her face, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears coating her cheeks.

"Hey, beautiful," he said softly. "You okay? That seemed like a pretty bad nightmare you were having."

Realizing that she had been dreaming, Laura shot up and launched herself into Evan's arms.

"Evan," she choked out, tears coming again.

"Hey now," he soothed, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back. "It's okay. You're okay."

This was his fault. After their argument on the balcony, he had immediately felt sorry for yelling at her. Contrary to her hot-headed reputation, Laura was actually a very patient person. She never went off half-cocked, and the one time she had expressed frustration with him, he had jumped all over her. After waiting a few hours to give her time to calm down, he had come to her quarters. Upon entering, he noticed the lights were off, and had almost left, but then he heard her crying. He made his way over to her bed and realized that she was sobbing in her sleep.

"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered now, stroking her hair. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I shouldn't have ignored you earlier."

She leaned back in his embrace, wiping the tears from her cheeks for herself this time. When her fingers left streaks of blood behind, he grabbed at her hands.

"Laura?" he exclaimed, examining her fingers. "What did you do?"

She had completely forgotten that she'd cut her finger earlier, and remembering the cause for her injury brought new tears to her eyes. He followed her gaze to the abandoned dust pan by her trash can.

"I broke the figurine you gave me for Valentine's Day," she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry."

Pulling her back toward him, he kissed her forehead.

"Shh. It's okay. I'll get you another one," he promised.

He stood and drew her up out of the bed.

"Come on. Let's take care of that finger."

He led her into the bathroom where he carefully cleaned and bandaged her injured finger. Once the bandage was in place, he pressed a kiss to it and then lifted his head to look into her eyes.

"I am sorry," he said again.

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I forgive you."

He tucked her back into bed and then slid in behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back against him. After a few minutes, her voice penetrated the silence.

"Evan?"

"Yeah, baby."

"You do love me, don't you?"

He dropped a kiss to the back of her neck.

"Of course I do, Laura."

She rolled over to face him.

"I love you," she said. Before he could reply she said quickly, urgently, "Don't leave me."

The moment the words left her lips, she felt like such a sap, but the whole evening had left her exhausted and overly emotional.

"Laura!" he exclaimed. "I would never leave you. I will never leave you. I love you. I'd rather be with you than anywhere else."

He brought her lips up to meet his as he tried to pour all of the love he felt for her into a single kiss. This time, when her tears welled up, she scrubbed at them with a frustrated hand.

"I hate crying," she huffed. "I don't know what's the matter with me"

Settling back down on his pillow, he pulled her down with him.

"There's nothing the matter with you. You're just tired, baby. Come on, let's get some sleep."

As she drifted off, content this time, she heard him whisper,

"I love you, Laura Cadman."


End file.
